Harbor Fright

Dasco Cat's Paw

The boys & I are ripping up the #$%%^ pseudo-plywood subfloor in the new house and we realize a cat's paw would be a good tool to have. I have one, or at least I think I do, but it's over at John's house in North Portland, which isn't all that far, but it's over a windy, bumpy road, and Home Depot is a little closer and it's just a straight shot down Cornell Road. Time is money and how much can a cat's paw cost anyways?

Not sure why, but I think I should tell you I didn't take Cornell all the way to Murray, which is where you ought to turn if you are going to Home Depot. Instead I turned on Cedar Hills, took it to the freeway (26) and thence to Murray. I suspect I was on autopilot because that's normally the way I head home, but I'm going to claim I went that way because I have aversion to all the traffic lights I would have to deal with if I went down Cornell.

Whatever. I get to Home Depot, find a reasonable place to park, get out of my car and as I start walking toward the entrance I realize there are a couple of dozen people queued up, carefully spaced apart, waiting to get in. It's raining. I'm not going to stand out in the rain, waiting. I turn around and head to Harbor Freight, just a couple of miles away. Quickly locate a cat's paw and pick up a medium small crow bar as well. Funny about that. They had big crow bars, giant crow bars, tiny ones and small ones, but no medium / regular sized ones. We already have a three crow bars of various sizes and this one seemed like it might be a good addition to my set. Of course, we can't find the big one, which is why I was tasked with getting another one. Thought it was at John's as well, but it turns out it was at the new house, just hiding.

Harbor Freight Cat's Paw

The cat's paw worked for a day, or maybe two, but today it gave up the ghost. The broken cross section looks like is made of compressed coal wrapped with thin steel shell. Yeah, Harbor Freight tools, when you only need to use it once.

Spray Sock
This is the one I bought. Found the picture on Ebay.

Went to ACE hardware today to pick up some masks and a replacement cat's paw. They were sold out of masks, no surprise there, but they had a painters sock, which is just stretchy thing you pull over your head so you aren't breathing paint particles when you are spray painting. I don't know how well it would work with dust, which is what we wanted it for, and who knows how well it would work against a virus. I suspect not very well. The cat's paw, along with about half of their hand tools, was in a cage that required a sales person to unlock. The cat's paw cost about $12 at ACE. The one at Harbor Freight cost about $4.